Das Colosseum in Rom, 1828

CommentaryCarl Rottmann painted numerous Italian motifs for the Bavarian King Ludwig I. ›Das Colosseum in Rom‹ (The Colosseum in Rome)is one of his first royal commissions and dates from 1826–27, bywhich time the artist was back in Munich after his first visit to Italy. It is a view at dusk of the Colosseum from the Farnese Gardens. The Roman arena was an obligatory item on the itinerary of every visitor to Italy even in the early nineteenth century. Being popular with painters, the motif was frequently romanticized, as Rottmann himself was aware when he described his own rendering of it as follows: »The object is so utterly splendid … and while it has been treated countless times before, certainly not often as here, seen in the solemnity of its true weight.«

Carl Rottmann painted numerous Italian motifs for the Bavarian King Ludwig I. ›Das Colosseum in Rom‹ (The Colosseum in Rome)is one of his first royal commissions and dates from 1826–27, bywhich time the artist was back in Munich after his first visit to Italy. It is a view at dusk of the Colosseum from the Farnese Gardens. The Roman arena was an obligatory item on the itinerary of every visitor to Italy even in the early nineteenth century. Being popular with painters, the motif was frequently romanticized, as Rottmann himself was aware when he described his own rendering of it as follows: »The object is so utterly splendid … and while it has been treated countless times before, certainly not often as here, seen in the solemnity of its true weight.«